CT’s archery deer season opened on Sept 15th.  This afternoon after work, Alex and I headed out to some private land where I have a 2 seater ladder stand.  Alex and Vicki both got to go out with me last year (1 at a time), but I hadn’t taken any deer with them in the stand.  Alex was on lookout duty with the binoculars.

It was a nice afternoon, so I leaned back against the tree and told Alex to wake me if he saw any deer.  A few minutes later I felt him bump into me with his elbow as he shifted in his seat.  The he did it again.  I opened my eyes and he was glued to the binoculars looking straight ahead.  I glanced at the ground in front of the stand and saw 3 deer moving in at 35 yds away.  I whispered “you could have warned me sooner” but apparently they had materialized out of the brush.  A few minutes later, the large doe paused long enough broadside at 25 yards for me to take a shot.

We needed to wait a while anyways, and I heard her hit the ground not too far away, so we settled back into our seats.  After all, we still had 1:15 minutes of hunting time left.  Over the next 45 minutes, we were treated to a pair of young does hanging out about 15-30 yards from the stand and another mature doe 40-50 yards away.  If the mature doe had ever been in a clear lane, we would have doubled down on the harvest.

Alex helped me follow the blood trail, field dress, and haul the doe out.  She was a very nice mature doe.

I stopped by the house to drop off Alex who was cold; it’s already getting into the 40s at night in September!  Vicki is excited that she gets to spend some time hunting with me, and Amanda is a little disappointed that she isn’t old enough yet.  But Amanda is quite willing to inspect the harvest.